I travel to Tehran, to be part of a five-person jury adjudicating an International Competition within the 29th Fadjr Theatre Festival - Iran's largest festival of theatre. In Canada, I run Volcano - an independent theatre company. In Iran, I am a newcomer.

Friday, February 11, 2011

The Trip

St. John's Airport

1) I leave the house where I'm staying in St. John's at 10:30am for a noon flight to Toronto, and say goodbye to my wonderful gal, Neema.2) 8 hour wait in Toronto.3) Fly to Frankfurt. Sleep whole flight.4) 6 hour wait in Frankfurt - where I am now.5) flight to Tehran is almost 5 hours

So that's about 30 hours of travel. Nervous. Excited. Buoyed by a flood of well-wishers on Facebook I discover in Frankfurt. Concerned by all the news I'm reading about the sentencing of Iranian filmmakers Jafar Pahani and Mohammad Rasoulov. Intrigued by an email from an Iranian theatre-maker:

"We did not have any theater in our small town (Abyek) till 4 years. And now we are here, young and eager to move and grow."

As are we all. Well, maybe not young... Some images of transit:

A deer and a bunny, trapped in the revolving door at the St. John's airport. Poor darlins, wha?

About Me

Ross Manson is an award-winning director, an actor, a translator, and the founding artistic director of Volcano, an internationally acclaimed independent theatre company based in Toronto. Over the past 15 years, Volcano' shows have toured around the world, and won or been nominated for over fifty local, national and international awards.
The Fadjr International Theater Festival is an annual event in Iranian theater that is regarded as one of the most important theatre events in the country. International theatre guests join Iranian theatre groups for 10 days where the general public are given the opportunity to attend the festivities.